While it wasn't the best of times or the worst of times, Cringer was something to do instead of college and a chance for four punker kids to see the world.
Cringer started in Hawaii back in 1984. Lance and Ed were from the Waianae side (Nanakuli and Makaha respectively) while Gardner and David Carr were from Kahala. Lance and Ed had previously been in the straight edge/skatecore band, Scarred For Life. David had been in several different bands including the Vacuum and Devil Dog. Gardner had been in Hawaii's first hardcore band, the Sharx. Local shows were the Manoa YWCA, the Puerto Rican Cultural Center and Aala Park plus a few house parties. This line-up played several times live on KTUH and recorded three demo tapes: a split with Scarred For Life, "We Are All AOK" and "The Vinegar Tasters". This line-up relocated to Los Angeles in 1986 where Gardner got involved with KXLU while the rest of the group was involved with SANE/Freeze. Via some miscommunication, the group wound up having their debut with a track from an early demo appearing on the Mystic Records compilation, "We Got Party". Hooking up with Vinyl Communications in Chula Vista, this line-up recorded their first 7", "Perversion Is Their Destiny". On a West Coast mini-tour with Free Will, Cringer became one of the first out of town bands to play the Gilman Street Project playing with Pillsbury Hardcore, Frightwig, and ASF.
David and Ed split soon after that 7" was recorded. Francis from Free Will joined on vocals for a short period of time. Simon, who had previously played in the UK anarcho band Flowers In The Dustbin, joined on guitar. This line-up recorded the second 7", "Zen Flesh, Zen Bones" as well as tracks for the "Exclusion" compilation on Nabate, "Metal Gives Us A Headache" on Hippycore and "Cottleston Pie" for "The Thing That Ate Floyd" on Lookout. This line-up did more shows including a big anti-nuke show with Sky Saxon, Ray Manzarek, Firehose, etc. There were also out of town shows with Operation Ivy, Scream, Excel, Amenity, Pitchfork, Mr. T Experience, Sweet Baby Jesus, Unit Pride and Frightwig.
Derrick from Hawaii joined and Simon eventually split. Nigel joined and the group recorded their first album, "Tikki Tikki Tembo No Sa Rembo Chari Bari Ruchi Pip Peri Pembo". Nigel eventually split and was replaced briefly by Dave Gomez. This era of the group had a lot of shows inlcuding Kent McClard's first one and a big outdoor protest at the Nevada Nuclear Test Site. Some of the shows were with MDC, No For An Answer, Reality Control, Left Insane, Inside Out, Burning Bush, No Use For A Name, Victim's Family, Bazooka Joe, etc.
At that point, Lance, Gardner and Derrick moved up to San Francisco. Harry joined and the group recorded for the MRR compilation "They Don't Get Paid" (produced by Lance) and later the "Karin" 7" for Lookout Records. Pretty soon Derrick got the boot and Kamala joined up. This turned out to be the busiest and most prolific line-up. The group recorded "Time For A Little Something" 7", "Rain" 7", "Live In Europe" 7", a split with Hopeful Monsters, a split with the Holy Rollers, tracks for the "More Songs About Trees" comp 7", "The Big One" comp LP and more. Full Circle in England also released the group's second full length LP, "I Take My Desires For Reality Because I Believe In The Reality Of My Desires". The group also toured pretty extensively mostly with Citizen Fish who spent nearly four months with them across the US and Europe. There were also tours with Green Day, Monsula, Thatcher On Acid, Neurosis and more. There were many, many local shows with everyone from Filth, Blatz, Econochrist, the Gargoyles, Crimpshrine, Corrupted Morals, Capitol Punishment, Dissent, Subvert, Spitboy, Paxton Quigley, Fuel, Samiam, Jawbreaker, Nausea, Glycine Max, Christ On A Crutch, Aspirin Feast, Libido Boyz, Stengte Dorer, Chumbawamba, Eve Libertine, Wat Tyler, Back To The Planet, Apocalypse, Confrontation, Born Against, Final Conflict, the Offspring, NOFX, Asbestos Death, Sleep, Plutocracy, Nessun Dorma, Resist, Media Children, Fugazi, Freak Beans, Autoclave, Plaid Retina, Death of Samantha, Zygote, Helios Creed, the Nip Drivers, etc.
After the group split, Lance and Gardner started J Church. Kamala joined Naked Aggression and started the Grups. Harry joined Good Grief. David Carr started The Wrong and later Yahweh's Mistake with Ed eventually joining. Dave Gomez played in a lot of different groups including playing bass for Beck for several tours along with Lance.
